The 13th RSA Seminar was held in Louisville, Kentucky, in September and a good and interesting time was had by all participants and their guests. A highlight of the seminar was a visit to the Frazier International History Museum, which was hosted by Madeleine Burnside, the museum’s Executive Director. (Click any image on page to enlarge)

The Remington firearms and related material had been removed from exhibits and put in a secure room where Seminar attendees were able to don white gloves and inspect the items more closely. After refreshments, which were kindly provided by the museum, the RSA folks were given private guided tours of the museum and then allowed to study the museum’s exhibits until closing time. It was a fantastic opportunity to view Remingtons “up close and personal”.
Seminar presentations started with a talk by Rich Shepler on “Variations of Remington No. 1, 2 and 3 Revolvers – Smoot’s Patent Pocket Pistols” which was augmented by a display of twenty Smoots, illustrating every known variety, every factory grip material and finish, and every factory embellishment type found on Smoot revolvers. Gordon Fosburg’s presentation on “Dating Remington Material” provided everyone a good basis for multiple ways to date Remington material, allowing collectors to determine actual dates or ranges of dates into which various material can be placed. Rich Shepler’s talk on “Remington Firearms Contracts and Subcontracts – Those ‘Other Remingtons'” provided information, some previously unpublished, on firearms made by others for Remington, by Remington for others, and various combinations of subcontracted parts of guns by and for Remington, including those marked Remington and those not so marked.

While unable to attend the Seminar, Bob Hatfield prepared a presentation on current Model 51 research which was delivered by Bobby Prescott, who also answered many questions regarding the pistols. Bobby also had a display with many examples of Model 51s and related material from his collection. Garland Jackson’ presentation “Shotguns (and other Remington guns) … What Can Be Reasonably Repaired and Safely Shooting Them” held everyone’s interest and generated lots of questions and discussion. Rich Shepler completed the presentations with “Remington’s Use of Victorian Trade Card Advertising”. Slides and handouts supplemented the presentations and everyone enjoyed all the presentations.

Show and Tell tables included Dan Pozarek’s unusual Remington revolver conversions and displays by Lee Estabrook and Gordon Fosburg. Friday afternoon the group toured the General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox and did a drive-by of the gold depository. At the Wednesday opening and Friday closing dinners, everyone ordered their choices from extensive specially prepared RSA menus and we all ate very well. Raffles and silent auctions added to the fun and raised some funds to support RSA’s other activities. If you did not attend the 2008 RSA Seminar, you missed a good one. In addition to what everyone learned and saw, it was a great opportunity to spend a couple of days meeting and talking with other Remington enthusiasts. Details of the 2009 RSA Seminar will be published in the first quarter 2009 RSA Journal. Watch for it and make your plans to be there!